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Survey Reviews Oldest Pending FOIA Requests

The Knight Open Government Survey conducted by the National Security Archive, George Washington University: 40 Years of FOIA, 20 Years of Delay – Oldest Pending FOIA Requests Date Back to the 1980s, July 2, 2007 (39 pages, PDF).

  • This audit “surveys the 87 agencies and major components and finds that extensive backlogs persist. Requests from as early as 1987 are still waiting to be processed 20 years later. Additionally, some agencies have located pending requests older than those reported to the archive in 2003 and those reported to Congress as recently as this year, suggesting not only a broken system, but one immersed in confusion and disarry.”
  • Related postings on FOIA and monthly LLRX.com column, FOIA Facts.
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